Strong demand for construction in the South East drives workload

A diverse range of projects, from data centres to civil engineering, are set to drive demand for construction in the South East over the next year.

Glenigan’s market analysis shows that construction is scheduled to commence on 13,428 high-value construction projects (valued at £250,000 or more) in the South East during the 12 months from August 2023,

Data Centres

With more than nine million people living in the region according to the Office for National Statistics, demand for data is high. This is driving a wave of projects that will get underway on-site in the next year.

Tenders have been returned for the £200 million Echelon LCY20 (pictured), which is planned for Chesham in Buckinghamshire and will provide 30MW of data (Project ID: 21472016).

MA24 was recently recruited for a £24 million data centre at Brughfield near Reading in Berkshire and will commence work in January according to Glenigan’s market research (Project ID: 20372329).

Procurement for the £252 million Cloud HQ data facility at Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire is at an earlier stage but construction should begin next summer (Project ID: 18203036).

A start has also been planned for next May for a £207.8 million data centre to be known as Court Lane and to be built at Iver in Buckinghamshire (Project ID: 22381404).

Civil plans

A large population is also driving improvements to travel infrastructure in the South East and a number of major civil engineering schemes are at various stages in the procurement pipeline.

Tenders have been returned to Kent County Council for a proposed £41.6 million link road at Sturry near Canterbury and work should get underway before the end of this year according to Glenigan’s construction market research (Project ID: 17229903).

Tenders have also been returned on a £90 million plan to replace Kennington Railway Bridge on the A423 in Oxfordshire (Project ID: 21179494) and the appointment of a preferred bidder is imminent. Once Oxfordshire County Council has made an appointment, construction should get started in February.

Balfour Beatty is also expected to commence construction in January on a £42 million substation scheme for National Grid in Lewes (Project ID: 21236277).

A joint venture between Jones Bros and JT Mackley is gearing up to begin main construction work in the New Year on a £167 million 8,700 million litre reservoir in Havant, Hampshire (Project ID: 19352034).

Port plans

The South East region includes a number of major ports and this is also due to produce a number of projects due to start construction over the next year.

A £30 million proposal to reorder the outbound controls at the main port in Dover will begin in October (Project ID: 21521518).

VolkerWessels will begin work next summer on a £55 million job for the first three phases of a redevelopment programme at Marchwood Port on the Solent (Project ID: 20315348).

Strength in numbers

With a host of different jobs in the pipeline, the construction industry in the South East has plenty to keep busy with over the next year.